COWBOYS & ALIENS, vol. 2

We get e-mail:Hey Rob,

My name is Rick Hershey, I'm the new artist on the second Cowboys & Aliens comic. We have a great team together and I recalled your comments and review and wanted to send a link your way to check it out. We have been doing our best to get rid of a lot of the stereotypes and horrible cliches found in the original and are focusing more on the characters, history, and cultures involved in the setting.

Anyway, here is a link to the comic so far, and I would love to hear your thoughts on it or anyone else you think would be interested.

Worlds at War Prelude

Thanks for your time.
Rick HersheyAn introduction to WORLDS AT WAR from the website:Well, the time has finally arrived for us to launch the new project from Platinum--Cowboys and Aliens: Worlds at War.

Worlds at War is a massive webcomic project that picks up directly where the first Cowboys and Aliens (http://www.drunkduck.com/CowboysAndAliens/) graphic novel left off. Zeke, Verity, and War Hawk (as well as several others who you will most certainly see more of) have just defeated the House of Dar. But, the story doesn't end there, as the other great Angaaran Houses are headed straight for Earth. It will be up to our heroes (and many new heroes from all around the world) to outwit the technologically superior Angaarans.

The first book, Prelude: A Call for Heroes, will be a series of various short stories, recapping the original graphic novel and introducing a variety of new characters that will play a major role in their various regions. Once the first book is wrapped up, we will delve much more deeply into each region being invaded (and to just give you a taste of what's to come, the Angaaran's will be invading countries from all around the world, such as Russia, Japan, and Africa, just to name a few, but those are down the line). We will be adding new comics to DrunkDuck nearly every day of the week (updates will be Monday through Saturday and will eventually expand to Sundays as well).Comment:  Judging by this excerpt, volume 2 of COWBOYS & ALIENS has taken a quantum leap forward in terms of portraying Indians authentically. It suggests the Apache are a people rich with culture, history, and religion--i.e., not savages who mindlessly attack wagon trains or dance around fires.

I don't know any of the Apache words or stories mentioned, so I checked. "Indii," the Apache name for themselves, seems reasonably accurate. As one website put it,Their name for themselves is N'de, Inde or Tinde ("the people").My one complaint is that the Apache generally didn't live in tipis. However, the easternmost branches of the people, the Plains Apache, did. As one website explainsThe Kiowa Apache Indians, a small group of Athabascan (Apachean)-speaking people, ranged the area of present southwestern Oklahoma and the Panhandle of Texas during the nineteenth century. Although their common name is derived from the erroneous belief that they were a detached band of Apaches from New Mexico and Arizona, their myths and oral history tell of a northern home, probably near the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, when they were an independent tribe with north and south divisions. They called themselves "Naishandina," which in their tongue meant "our people." While there is no clear account of the reasons why they migrated south, the fact that they were a small group among primarily hostile tribes caused them to become affiliated with the Kiowas for mutual protection; as far back as there is any record or knowledge, they have functioned as a band of the Kiowa tribe, though they speak a completely unrelated language. A few of the old Apache men usually learned a little Kiowan, but sign language was the primary means of communication between the Kiowa and its Apache band. Although many scholars lean toward the view that the Kiowa Apaches were linked with one of the Athabascan divisions, some speculate that they were originally eastern or Plains Apaches who became separated from their kinsmen when the Comanches first intruded into the southern Plains. Aside from linguistic differences, the Kiowa Apaches were practically indistinguishable from the Kiowa proper. They were buffalo-hunting, tepee-dwelling, horse and travois nomads, with soldier societies and medicine bundles (four).COWBOYS & ALIENS' Apaches could be these Apaches...except these Apaches didn't call themselves "Inde" or "Indii." So we have an apparent mistake here.

Other than that, the new volume looks good. I may have to check it out.